Merck, Crucell Enter License Agreement To Boost Development of Vaccines Against Malaria, TB

Dutch biotechnology company Crucell and Merck have entered a licensing agreement under which Crucell will be able to access Merck data for use in the development of vaccines against diseases, including malaria and tuberculosis, Crucell announced last week, AFX/Forbes reports (AFX/Forbes, 12/27/06). Merck in turn will be able to use Crucell's technology for the development of undisclosed vaccines (Dutch News Digest, 12/27/06). Barbara Mulder, a spokesperson for Crucell, declined to reveal financial details of the agreement (Bloomberg, 12/28/06). "This agreement will make it possible to speed up the delivery of our malaria and TB vaccines to the people in need and makes it realistic to do so on the mass scale required," Jaap Goudsmit, Crucell's chief scientific officer, said in a statement (Reuters, 12/27/06). The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases supports Crucell's malaria vaccine program, and the company's TB vaccine program is a collaboration with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation (Crucell release, 12/27/06).